Monday, August 30, 2010

Fried Chicken

This blog is entirely at my husband's request. He insisted that I share my method for making fried chicken since he claimed "it's the best he ever had". It should also be noted that I hear that at least once every dinnertime (not that I mind). I offered to let him be a guest author on the Being Elgin blog but he turned that down, which is probably good since he has zero idea how I fixed the chicken to begin with.

I wasn't prepared for this blog so the pictures are limited to well, one. I also don't measure things a lot, so any measurements are rough estimates. Fried chicken is one of the recipes that's been evolving over the past 9 months of our marriage.

To start with, I soaked the chicken breasts in salt water for about 15-20 minutes, although next time I'll probably do it longer. Not having chicken thawed before limited my soaking time. I dried them with paper towel and gave them a quick turn in an egg wash (2 eggs and a splash of water mixed up). The breading is a mixture of about 3/4 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of Corn Flake crumbs, a little salt and pepper, and about 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper. You can't taste it really, it's just a little flavor. Coat the chicken in it, and move it to the skillet. I fry my chicken in a mixture of butter and Crisco. I used about 3-4 tablespoons of butter and a couple big spoonfuls of Crisco. (I never said this is a healthy dinner -- in fact it's one of least figure friendly dinners I make). Fry until it's done...I don't really know how long, I didn't pay attention. The chicken should be very resistant when you poke it with the tongs...if it's squishy feeling, keep cooking.

I also made mashed sweet potatoes which is Nick's new favorite side dish. He also requested fried apples. I usually do make something green to go with, but we were out of peas and I wasn't in a broccoli mood so I didn't worry about it too much.